D-Link’s Networking Solutions at CES 2015

D-Link had one of the most exciting networking suites at CES 2015. The fact that they seem to be having the lead when it comes to adopting Broadcom’s latest MU-MIMO solutions played a major role. Having been behind the hub for the Staples Connect product, they also have enough know-how to aggressively tackle the connected home market. Without further digression, we take a look at the various products that D-Link had on display at their CES suite.

The ULTRA Series of Routers

D-Link’s revamped router lineup consists of three main products:

(a) DIR-890L AC3200: This is the standard XStream configuration from Broadcom with two sets of 5 GHz radios and one 2.4 GHz radio. Speeds of up to 1.3 Gbps on each 5 GHz radio and 600 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz radio justify the AC3200 tag. This model is shipping now for $310.

(b) DIR-885L AC3100: This is based on Broadcom’s recently announced 4×4 MU-MIMO solution (BCM4366 + BCM47094). The maximum WLAN PHY rate is 2165 Mbps for the 5 GHz band and 1000 Mbps for the 2.4 GHz band.

(c) DIR-895L AC5300: This combines the Broadcom 4×4 MU-MIMO solution with the XStream concept – putting 2x 4×4 MU-MIMO capable radios together gives 2.1 Gbps on each of the 5 GHz bands along with 1 Gbps on the 2.4 GHz band to justify the AC5300 name.

D-Link is also set to launch a 3×3 802.11ac USB Wi-Fi adapter in the DWA-192/R. Obviously, with the AC1900 rating, it supports connection via USB 3.0 for maximum performance. Pricing for everything other than the DIR-890L is yet to be decided. Shipping is slated for Q2 2015.

The industrial design of all the products in the ULTRA series is quite striking. It is definitely fitting for the revamp considering that D-Link effectively was an also-ran for the previous two generations of 802.11ac products.

Powerline Networking

On the PLC front, D-Link is again at the forefront with one of the highest performing powerline kits in the market. The PowerLine AV2 2000 (DHP-701AV) Gigabit starter kit is based on the Broadcom BCM60500 HPAV2 MIMO chipset.

D-Link also updated their AV2 1000 DHP-601AV product. Unlike the DHP-701AV, this is not MIMO-capable. Both products are scheduled to launch this quarter, with the kits coming in at $130 and $80 respectively.

The Smart Home Play

As I mentioned in the introduction to this piece, D-Link has been accumulating expertise in the connected home market, thanks to being the hub manufacturer for the Staples Connect program. The Smart Home is an interconnection of automation, entertainment and security aspects in a typical house. In order to tackle this market, D-Link is having two plays in mind – DIY security kits and a set of Wi-Fi / Z-Wave sensors along with a hub for the DIY home automation market.

The DIY security kit comes in two flavours – the HD edition and the HD Pan and Tilt Edition.

The kits come with a motion sensor, a smart switch (the one that D-Link has been shipping for about a year now) and a HD IP camera (with pan and tilt capabilities in the latter edition). The IP camera in the first package (HD edition) is the DCS-935L capable of recording H.264 clips at 720p30. It is one of the first 802.11ac-capable IP cameras that I have seen in the market.

The mobile apps ecosystem for the above kit is the same as that for the DIY home automation kit. The IP cameras have their own ecosystem with the mydlink Cloud – recordings get uploaded when motion is detected. Fortunately, local storage with a D-Link NVR is also possible.

The DIY Security Kit – HD Edition (DCH-101KT), DIY Security Kit – HD Pan & Tilt Edition (DCH-301KT) and the HD Wi-Fi Camera (DCS-935L) will go on sale later this quarter with pricing set at $190, $230 and $120 respectively.

The home automation play from D-Link is quite strong this year. At the heart of the ecosystem is the Connected Home Hub (DCH-G020 – Q2 2015 – $80) which acts as a Wi-Fi / Z-Wave bridge with a wired connection to the router. It is AllSeen compatible. Two Z-Wave sensors (Open/Close – DCHZ110 – Q2 2015 – $40 and Motion Sensor – DCH-Z120 – Q2 2015- $50) and two Wi-Fi sensors (water sensor – DCH-S160 – Q2 2015 – $60 and siren – DCH-S220 – Q2 2015 – $50) round out the lineup. The mydlink Home App controls all these devices, sets rules and allows creation of scenes – the typical home automation play.

My only complaint as a power user / person who likes to tinker around is that the ecosystem is closed – It is not currently possible, for example, to even control the Wi-Fi Smart Plug with the Logitech Harmony Home Automation hub.

The last two years have been a bit quiet for D-Link. So, it was great to see them bouncing back with very interesting products. My only wish is for them to recognize the value of a open home automation platform. On the router side, shipping the AC5300 DIR-895L in Q2 would definitely bring D-Link back in contention as a market leader.

Diamond Multimedia Updates Networking and DisplayLink Products Portfolio

We made the annual customary visit to Diamond Multimedia’s suite at CES. Last year, they had products on display marking their first foray into the networking market. Primarily known in the channel for their graphics cards based on AMD GPUs, their DisplayLink products (USB 3.0-based video adapters and docking stations) are also selling quite well.

At CES 2015, Diamond Multimedia demonstrated a Microsoft Surface Pro driving a 4K display using a DisplayLink-based USB 3.0 to 4K Display Port adapter. This adapter allows any PC / tablet with a USB 3.0 port to drive a 4K monitor (even if the internal GPU is not capable of 4K video output). The DisplayLink docking solution also got an upgrade with the DS3900 Ultra Dock with Dual Video Display.

On the networking side, Diamond Multimedia is testing the 802.11ac market with a 2×2 AC1200 router and a AC750 range extender. There is also a USB 2.0 AC600 USB adapter as well as a USB 3.0 AC1200 USB adapter. 500 Mbps powerline kits as well as an IP camera with in-built PLC (power line communication capabilities) – HP500CK – round up the wireless / networking product stack.

On the TV / game capture side, the WPCTV3000 connects to a HDTV / display and allows screen mirroring from PCs or Macs from multiple users. The GC2000 1080p HD capture box is for console gamers wanting to record their gameplay and either stream it over the network / Internet or store it in a SD card in the box.

Gallery: Diamond Multimedia – CES 2015 Suite Tour

The BVU5500 4K display adapter (USB 3.0 to Display Port) was the most interesting product on display. The advent of USB 3.1 should make for some interesting DisplayLink products, not only due to the increased available bandwidth, but also the power delivery aspect. It will take a couple of more generations for DisplayLink to get there, but, in the meanwhile, manufacturers such as Diamond Multimedia continue to bring out business-focused products using their current chipsets.

Asustor’s 5 Series Packs Intel Bay Trail Celerons

Since last CES, a couple of Asustor offerings have been put under our review scanner, and we were naturally excited to meet up with them at CES 2015. Towards the middle of December, Asustor had launched the 50T and 51T series NAS models (in 2- and 4-bay varieties) based on the Bay Trail Celerons. While the 50T packs the dual-core Celeron J1800 running at 2.41 GHz, the 51T uses the quad-core J1900 at 2.0 GHz.

The affordable Haswell-based NAS units (Core i3-packing 70 series) were launched before the 50T series. The 70T series packs two network ports, but does have a PCIe expansion slot for 10G cards. The 70R rackmount series comes in two varieties, the Core i3-packing RD ones and the Xeon E3-packing RDX ones. Both of them are targeted towards enterprise users and come in 9- and 12-bay variants. The RDX variant supports ECC RAM.

As I have mentioned in our previous coverage of Asustor, the company is doing quite well in terms of hardware offerings. It is in the software department that they need to play catch-up with the QNAPs and Synologys in this market segment. Naturally, most of our focus during the CES visit was on the upcoming / newly released firmware features.

Asustor claims to be one of the first NAS vendors to support S3 sleep mode for aggressively driving down power consumption in the long run. ADM 2.3 finally brings about Windows ACL support. The mobile apps ecosystem was also shown in detail – the features are pretty standard if one is coming from a QNAP / Synology background. Asustor made specific mention of the hardware-accelerated transcoding feature in their Evansport NAS – both for offline as well as real-time operations via its mobile apps. Ideally, we would like it extended to their 70T series (using the Quick Sync engine).

The demo which pleased me the most was the QEMU front-end that is currently a package under beta-testing. Taking a cue from QNAP’s Virtualization Station feature, Asustor is developing a package to enable ADM to act as a host OS. We saw multiple flavours of Windows running on top of a Asustor 70 series NAS. The UI is a bit basic compared to Virtualization Station, but, given the beta nature, it can definitely be excused.

Asustor has always been competitive on the hardware side of things. However, by virtue of being a late entry into the market, they have perennially been in catch-up mode with respect to firmware features. That was the story from the last two CES shows, and this year was no different. That said, it is heartening to see Asustor accelerating the development on the software side, while also being quick to react to new firmware features / packages that the competition is bringing to the market. That is definitely good news for consumers in this market.